1973 Dairy Festival Queen Denise Dickerson Booher.

Denise Dickerson Booher put her Dairy Festival Queen's scholarship to good use, earning a bachelor's degree from Texas Tech University. She later earned teacher certification from East Texas State University and is a graduate of the learning therapist certificate program at SMU. Booher is currently a content mastery teacher at Travis Elementary School.

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By TERRY MATHEWS, News-Telegram Arts Editor

Oct. 12, 2008 - When it came time to decide on a talent for the 1973 Dairy Festival pageant, Denise Dickerson Booher had to leave town -- literally.

"At that time, there wasn't anyone in Sulphur Springs giving dance lessons, so I went to Tyler," Booher explained. "A teacher there helped me to choreograph my dance and helped me choose a costume."

The costume, a yellow leotard embellished with yellow rhinestones and chiffon, prompted her friends to call Booher "a Chiquita banana."

Booher, daughter of Mary Lynne Dickerson Jolley and Troy Jolley and the late Byron Dickerson, didn't win the talent portion of the competition. She did, however, take the beauty division and sold the most tickets.

Booher said that her parents encouraged her to work hard selling tickets.

"If I sold enough tickets, I could at least have my name called out and receive something. At that time ticket sales didn't count in the queen contest, but was a separate award."

Booher's father helped her with ticket sales.

"My dad worked diligently selling tickets," she explained. "We had lots of friends in the dairy business and they also helped out. I remember getting additional tickets several times from Mrs. Longino. My dad and the Standard Club helped me win the ticket sales award."

When her name was announced as beauty and ticket sales winner, Booher was delighted.

"I thought, 'Great, I've won two things,' not dreaming that I would be announced Dairy Festival Queen," Booher said. "As queen, I received a large silver bowl and a $100 scholarship for college."

Booher, whose grandparents were the late Elvis and Mary Hurley, put the scholarship money to good use, earning a bachelor's degree from Texas Tech University. She later earned teacher certification from East Texas State University and is a graduate of the learning therapist certificate program at Southern Methodist University.

Before entering the education field in 1995, she worked with her mother at her store, Mary Lynne's Collegiate Shop, Booher said. She was active in the Downtown Merchants Association and worked with the coordination of the Main Street USA program as president of the association.

Booher has fond memories of Dairy Festival activities.

"I have a lot of good memories," she said. "But the one I cherish the most is my daddy riding on my float since my theme was 'Father's Day.'"

Booher stayed busy during her year-long reign.

"I presented the awards at the Dairy Show in the livestock barn at the park," she remembered. "I represented Hopkins County throughout the year at festivals like the Rains County Fair, Autumn Trails in Winnsboro, the Gilmer Yamboree, the Dogwood Fiesta in Quitman, and I even got to attend 'East Texas Queens' Day' at the State Fair of Texas."

Booher was also honored to be invited by a Dallas television station to do a segment on Hopkins County and the dairy industry.

"My picture was in The Dallas Morning News," she said.

Of course, one of the perks to holding the title of Dairy Festival Queen was the use of a 1973 Monte Carlo for 10 days, courtesy of Gober-Merrill Chevrolet.

Booher and Reece, her husband of 29 years, live in Sulphur Springs. Reece is the owner of Summerhouse Lawn and Garden. The couple have raised three sons.

Brandon is a graduate of Texas Tech University. He and his wife, Laney, live in Richardson where he works as a landscape architect for Meeks Design Group.

Blaine is also a graduate of Texas Tech University and is currently a student at Texas Tech Health Sciences Center in the physical therapy program.

Bailey is a senior at Sulphur Springs High School where he plays varsity soccer and runs cross country. Like his older brothers, Bailey plans on attending Texas Tech University.

Booher cites her three children, completing graduate level courses and "helping students" as her proudest accomplishments.

Booher is currently a content mastery teacher at Travis Elementary.

"As an academic language therapist, I also work privately with students after school and in the summer," she said.

For the past six years, she has also worked in Fort Worth for two or three weeks during the summer for the Learning Center of North Texas providing professional development to educators as a schools attuned facilitator.

Being in the pageant "gave me confidence, determination and a strong work ethic," Booher said. "I also realized the importance of family and friends because it took everyone to help me prepare."

The former queen encourages young girls to compete in the pageant.

"Everyone can't be a winner," she said. "So just be well prepared, be the best you can be and have fun."

Information from memorabilia

The Talent & Beauty Show was held on Tuesday, May 8, 1973 at 8:00 p.m. in the Junior High Gym

The Coronation Pageant was held Thursday, May 10, 1973 at 8:00 p.m. at the Football Stadium.

Tickets cost $1.00 and you had to have a ticket for each event.

Parade was held on Thursday afternoon at 2:00.

A quote from the paper about the parade -- "The 40-unit Festival Parade through downtown Sulphur Springs Thursday afternoon was described by many long-time observers as the most colorful in the history of the event."

(Editor's Note: In June 2009, the Hopkins County Dairy Festival will celebrate its 50th anniversary. In the weeks leading up to the festival, the News-Telegram will visit with former Dairy Festival queens to reminisce about the festival, the pageant and what it meant to wear the crown.)

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